


A Good Seat (To Watch The World Burn)

by NamelesslyNightlock, Rabentochter



Series: This Was A Bad Idea (but we know what we're doing) [20]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Loki (Marvel), BAMF Tony Stark, Canon Divergence - Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Canon-Typical Violence, Cunning Plans, Espionage, Established Relationship, Explosions, Games, Kissing, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, M/M, Manipulation, Suits, Sunglasses, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, grey tony stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:13:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22737013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelesslyNightlock/pseuds/NamelesslyNightlock, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabentochter/pseuds/Rabentochter
Summary: It’s time for HYDRA to emerge from the shadows– and Tony’s got his hands on the torch.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Series: This Was A Bad Idea (but we know what we're doing) [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1388356
Comments: 29
Kudos: 343





	A Good Seat (To Watch The World Burn)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy International Fanworks Day, everyone!!  
>   
> Art by **Rabentochter** , fic by **NamelesslyNightlock**.

Tony probably should _not_ have been having quite so much fun.

For starters, he was perfectly aware that any single wrong move would probably result in him getting locked up and, yeah, most likely killed for his efforts. He _knew_ his value, and so did the snake sitting opposite him– but Tony also knew these guys were more than willing to get rid of him if he caused too much trouble.

Just look at what they’d done to his father, after all.

Still. There was something heady about sitting opposite a man who believed he held all the cards and _knowing_ that the game was already won. Especially when this was the man who was rather objectively one of the most powerful in the world, perhaps even more so than the President– though of course, there was only a small handful of people who were aware of that fact.

Alexander Pierce’s grin was slimy as he reached out over the desk between them. “Do we have a deal, Mr Stark?”

“Oh, yes,” Tony replied, his own smile near on sloppy in comparison, giving off a perfect vibe of overconfidence– and he was rewarded when Pierce’s smugness appeared to deepen. “I believe we do.”

They shook hands– firm, sharp, the kind of business handshake where it was clear that both parties believed they had got the better end of the deal. Though of course, whenever that was the case, only one could ever be correct—

And, despite every single appearance, it _certainly_ was not Pierce.

They signed the contracts quickly, pens moving swiftly over the paper– and then they both stood, rising together and shaking hands one more time. Tony resisted the urge to wipe it on his slacks, and kept his smile firmly in place.

“It will be a joy working with you again, Mr Stark,” Pierce said, that charming businessman voice raising the hair on the back of Tony’s neck. “Your repulsor technology truly has revolutionised the helicarriers.”

“I thought that it might,” Tony replied. “They must be nearly completed.”

“Oh, certainly,” Pierce replied– and then, he didn’t add anything else. Not, of course, that Tony was surprised by that.

Leaning forward, he placed the fingertips of both hands on Pierce’s desk and painted his lips with something sharp and wolfish. Then he cleared his throat, and he whispered—

“I believe a _Hail HYDRA_ might help to smooth things over?”

Pierce’s eyes widened with a suddenness that was almost comical.

“What do you—”

“Oh, come on Secretary,” Tony said. “You know I’m not an idiot– you wouldn’t have just hired me to upgrade the weapons systems on all of your quinjets if I were.”

“But you’re—”

“An Avenger?” Tony straightened, crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes. “Can I not be a member of HYDRA at the same time? Surely you’ve noticed that Rogers and I… don’t exactly get along.”

Pierce almost snorted at that, the sound something like a sharp inhale and half a laugh. “Ah, yes,” he said. “I had heard something along those lines.”

“The enemy of my enemy, right?” Tony shrugged. “I want him gone from the team– you guys just want him gone all together. I care little for the difference.”

“Captain Rogers has proven a rather valuable asset, actually,” Pierce said– and from the glint in his eye, it wasn’t hard to tell that he meant this as something of a test.

“I did notice that you had him clearing the path for your missions,” Tony commented. “Clever. And he never suspected a thing?”

“Not the once.” Pierce considered him for a moment, and it was clear that he was thinking hard on a quick plan. Tony, meanwhile, smoothed down his sharp suit jacket and turned for the door, very visibly preparing to leave– which of course forced Pierce to make a quick, on-the-spot decision. “You asked about your helicarriers,” he said– and Tony’s lips turned up in a smile.

His expression was smoothed back into a blank mask by the time he was facing Pierce once again, however.

“I did,” he offered. “However, it would seem that you are being tight-lipped about them. If my loyalty is not yet proven, then I suppose I shall have to wait. Our deal still stands, of course. Good day, Secretary.” Tony inclined his head slightly, and then turned to leave once more—

“Would you like to see them?”

This time, Tony didn’t bother trying to hide the smirk. There was no way Pierce hadn’t realised at least _some_ of the manipulation in that, after all. “Yes,” he said. “I would.”

Pierce grabbed his own jacket from the back of his chair and gestured for Tony to follow, and then the pair of them made their way through the door to the office. As they left, Tony didn’t dare look back– but he _did_ feel a wave of triumph surge through his veins.

Pierce had not noticed that Tony had left a small bug on the side of his computer. Why would he? He thought he’d just gained not only the deal of a lifetime, but had also found out that Tony Stark was part of HYDRA.

Tony was still smiling as they walked out of the office– this time a wide, toothy grin that played up on his playboy reputation. He made sure to wink at every woman they passed and a few of the men, too, leaving quite a few pink cheeks in his wake. There was one particular pair of bright green eyes that Tony made sure to meet with a grin, nodding his head and blowing a kiss. The dark-haired woman rolled her eyes, but her lips were turned up into a smirk. He heard Pierce sigh, but Tony simply shrugged and turned his eye to the next one. It worked a charm– by the time they stepped into the helicarrier bay, Pierce was more relaxed than he had been even before Tony had dropped his bombshell.

Honestly, it was amazing what a bit of brazen flirting could do– Tony had lost count the number of times that people had discounted his status of _genius_ the moment he brought the playboy back out. Because, _obviously_ , the two could not possibly exist side by side.

The moment Tony stepped through the heavy door, though, he paused in horror.

Oh, he’d known what to expect– it was hardly like he was walking into this blind, after all. But…

There were very few things that could have prepared him for the sight of three massive helicarriers complete with repulsor technology, each one waiting to be loaded with an algorithm that would be capable of identifying any _potential_ threat to HYDRA on Earth– and a weapons system that could wipe out hundreds of thousands of people in a single instant.

“Impressive, aren’t they?” Pierce asked, his voice dripping with smugness. Tony only resisted punching him by reminding himself that it wouldn’t be long before all of this would come to a rather satisfying end.

“Very,” he agreed. “And they’re ready, you said?”

“Oh yes.” Pierce grinned. “Set to launch today, actually. That’s why I’m in DC.”

“I thought you were here to take over from Fury?” Tony asked, arching a brow. “SHIELD must be floundering with him gone.”

“That was… a _tragic_ loss,” Pierce said– and Tony took the complete lack of attempt to fabricate any grief as an indication that his own façade was working rather well. “But, only half of the story. The helicarriers are ready, and today will be a landmark day in SHIELD’s history. It is a… _shame,_ that Fury is not here to witness it.”

“A right shame,” Tony agreed. “And, do you think there’s a chance I might be able to witness history in the making?”

Pierce’s eyes gained a dangerous glint– and Tony knew that this was what he had been hoping for. _Good._

“You do know what they’re going to do?”

“Of course I do,” Tony snorted. “I’m Tony Stark. And I want you to know that I support your plan and Doctor Zola’s algorithm wholeheartedly. I only have the one request.”

“Go on,” Pierce prompted.

Tony bared his teeth, and injected as much venom into his voice as he could muster. “A good seat from which to watch as you make Rogers burn.”

That, apparently, was the right thing to say– as Pierce once more gestured for Tony to follow.

As they headed back into the elevator and toward the lobby of the Triskelion, Pierce informed Tony that there were a few more guests they needed to pick up before they could go to the conference room with the best possible view of the launch– and Tony heard a familiar voice speak through the concealed comm in his ear.

“Sir. I have the codes, the chips are ready. They’re en route.”

Tony grinned– thankfully, Pierce was caught up enough in what he was saying that he did not notice.

The ‘guests’ turned out to be all the other members of the WSC, and Tony had to restrain himself from giving them a _proper_ thank you for the missile that they’d fired on New York– the one that he’d had to carry up into the void himself. He didn’t resist a quick, harsh quip, though—

And then he arched a brow as Councilwoman Hawley very visibly smirked in response.

The conference room Pierce chose _was_ perfect for viewing. The Potomac was stretched out in front of them, and the floor-to-ceiling-windows would mean that they wouldn’t miss a single thing.

_Perfect._

Tony was still glancing around as Pierce started on his speech, taking in the screens that displayed the horrors of what the helicarriers and the algorithm were about to do. And really, Tony was only half listening– he knew all of this already, he and JARVIS had hacked in and found it all the moment that the whistle had been blown. He had far more interesting things to be listening to, such as the whispered confirmations over his comms that certain pieces of tech had been slotted into place.

He was, however, snapped back to the present as Pierce’s speech was interrupted—

“Attention all SHIELD Agents. This is Steve Rogers. You’ve heard a lot about me over the last few days—”

“ _Rogers,”_ Pierce cursed.

“Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down.”

“Shame I missed it,” Tony sighed. “That sounds like it might have been fun.”

Pierce’s gaze shot to him for a moment, before he glanced back to the other council members—

“…SHIELD is not what we thought it was. It has been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. Those helicarriers are going to rain fire, and if you think that we’re safe in here… we’re not.”

—the council members who were now looking back at Pierce with suspicion bordering on rage. 

Rogers finished his speech – and it wasn’t a bad one, actually, Tony would have to remember to mention it to him later, after he was done kicking his ass for this – and then the other council members began ripping into Pierce.

Tony stayed off to the side for once – usually he’d be the first in there to claim his pound of flesh, but this wasn’t really part of the plan, and he thought he might as well just wait and see how it played out. Besides… it was _fun._ It wasn’t all too often that he got to sit back and enjoy drama, since normally he’d be right in the thick of it.

But when Pierce raised his gun and pointed it at one of the councilmen’s heads—

Well, Tony _did_ go to intervene– but then, it turned out that he didn’t need to. Councilwoman Hawley struck out with a kick of a seriously impressive level of dexterity for a woman of her – supposed – age, then grabbed the gun and had it trained on Pierce in an instant.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Natasha said, reaching up to pull the mask Tony recognised as a photostatic veil from her face. “Did I step on your moment?”

Pierce’s expression was one of pure _wrath_ , and he reached into his pocket—

And then cried out in pain as his hand was blasted with a low-level repulsor.

“Try it again, and I promise my phasers won’t be set to stun,” Tony said easily.

Natasha smiled as her gaze shifted from Pierce for a moment. “Hey Tony.”

“Hey Nat.” Tony shook his head, his glove-repulsor still raised and trained on Pierce as he took a couple of steps forward. “We had this all under control, you know.”

“I know,” Natasha replied– and funnily enough, she actually sounded like she meant it. “ _We_ just didn’t want to miss out on the fun.” Then she turned to the council members, and jerked her head toward the exit.

“I should have known,” Pierce growled as the members of the WSC hurried to follow Nat’s instruction, hurrying out of the door. “There’s no way HYDRA would hire the likes of you, Stark—”

“Yeah,” Tony cut in, sounding near on bored. “You should have.”

“But _you?_ Following Rogers?”

“Well, no,” Tony corrected. “I suppose you could say that Steve was more of a… distraction.” That was a lie, since Steve wasn’t even meant to be there– but Pierce didn’t need to know that.

“It doesn’t matter, you’re too late anyway,” Pierce snapped at them. “Look.”

Despite half wondering if it was a trap and he was about to be caught out by the oldest trick in the book, Tony instinctively glanced to the window—

Where the bay doors were opening under the Potomac, and the helicarriers were beginning to rise up into the sky.

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Tony shrugged. “It seems well in hand.”

Wings that Tony recognised as the EXO-7 Falcon were flashing though the air, and he could see the familiar star-spangled shield even from so far away. And the pair were not alone– the Iron Legion filled the skies, their repulsors taking out any quinjet that dared to take wing.

But… not a single one touched the helicarriers.

Tony _almost_ realised his mistake too late—

The distraction had been enough for Pierce to reach into his jacket pocket and pull out what was quite clearly some kind of remote. Tony didn’t know to what, but he was hardly about to take any chances—

And he wasn’t the kind of person who went back on his promises. 

The sound of the repulsor was accompanied by Pierce’s scream.

Tony’s lip curled as he stood over the pathetic figure gasping on the ground with a good chunk burned out of his side.

“Stark, you’re a clever man,” Pierce gasped. “Why do you not see the benefits of—’

“That’s an easy answer,” Tony cut in, leaning forward slightly and wiggling his fingers in a manner that _could_ have been almost farcical– but which made Pierce gulp for breath. “I actually _don’t_ want to watch the world burn.”

Pierce made a sound that was something close to a gurgle– and Tony’s lip curled in disgust as he turned away.

“Nat, have you got this?”

She held her gun firm, and stood over Pierce once more. “Who do you think I am?”

Knowing that she would be able to get out in time, Tony simply nodded and turned his back, moving toward the window.

“J, get me a lift.”

It was only a second or so before one of the Iron Legion was smashing through the thick glass and encasing him– and only a few seconds more before Tony’s feet was solidly on the roof of a building on the other side of the Potomac. It wasn’t _quite_ as perfect a viewing spot as the conference room had been, but it was going to be infinitely… _cooler._

Loki was already there, wearing a suit as sharp as Tony’s and leaning back against a wall with a smirk in place.

Tony stepped out of the armour and up beside Loki in an instant, their arms brushing together as he matched Loki’s smile for anticipation.

“J?” Tony asked.

“I have all the data from SHIELD’s servers, Sir,” JARVIS confirmed. “I am sorting through it now, and it will not be long before we can enact Agent Romanoff’s plan without endangering legitimate agents.”

“Perfect. And the agents?”

“Were adequately warned by myself and Captain Rogers. They are clear.”

Tony raised one hand, as if he were about to conduct a concerto. “Then let the show begin.”

On JARVIS’ command, the new targeting algorithms that Loki had inserted into the helicarriers while Tony had been distracting Pierce took effect—

And that high-tech weapons system exploded into massive beams of energy as the helicarriers fired not upon those that Zola had identified as a threat to HYDRA, but upon the other helicarriers themselves. They had waited long enough for the helicarriers to be flying just over the Triskelion, and as they burned they rained fire down on all of SHIELD, destroying _everything_ in one fell swoop.

The explosion was bright enough that Tony pulled out his sunglasses, sliding them over his nose. He passed a second pair to Loki, and they watched the beauty of the explosions for a moment before they both turned their backs.

“Cheeseburger?” Loki asked, slinging an arm over Tony’s shoulders.

Tony glanced up to Loki with a cocky tilt to his lips. “A show _and_ dinner? You really are treating me tonight.”

“I know a prize when I see one,” Loki said. “There are not many people who would allow me to cause so much chaos without protest.” 

“Without protest?” Tony’s smile widened, and he leaned up slightly to brush his lips over the line of Loki’s jaw. “Honey, I _loved_ it.”

Loki turned his head then and caught Tony’s lips in a proper kiss, and although it was short it held enough passion to make Tony groan. “Or maybe we should just go back home,” he whispered as their lips parted. “Fuck the cheeseburgers.”

Loki kissed him again, then pulled away with a grin– though he still held Tony close. “I think I would prefer to fuck _you_ , actually.”

Tony’s answering grin was wicked.

And together, with Loki’s arm still over Tony’s shoulders and Tony’s around Loki’s waist, they walked away from the Triskelion, the flames of the burning helicarriers hot against the back of their necks.

Ah, yes. This really had been a hell of a lot of fun– and there was still a hell of lot more to come.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find the art for this fic on tumblr [here.](https://rabentochter.tumblr.com/post/190840178534/a-good-seat-to-watch-the-world-burn-a-collab)


End file.
